Can somebody from the Postal Department explain exactly the process of receiving/sending mails/parcels in Brunei, please?
Until today I still do not understand how it can take almost 3 weeks for a letter from the UK to be delivered to someone in Brunei. This happened many times to us. For example, about 3 weeks ago, we sent a letter to Brunei. It was an important document but not too important for us to fork 45GBP to send it through DHL. So, we sent using an express UK mail service. With a given tracking code, we could track the letter through the internet. It was express alright, the letter reached Brunei in 2 days time. Unfortunately, the tracking system only applied in the UK so its whereabouts in Brunei, God knew! Thinking that it should arrive in safe hands within a few days, we were happy.
We were wrong. 2 days ago, the intended recipient asked where the letter was. We were gobsmacked! Finally, today we were told the letter has now finally arrived. It took exactly 18 days: 1 day in UK, 1 day travel, 16 days in Brunei.
Really, the term ‘snail mail’ literally applies to Brunei mail. What happened?
I don’t know about anyone else but a good, reliable postal service is crucial in providing a healthy and conducive business environment. Millions of e-bay UK sellers, for example, depend on the reliability of the UK postal service to deliver the goods in timely manner. Sending anything ‘First Class’ will usually mean next-day delivery wherever you are in the UK (the first time I experienced this, it knocked my socks off! haha). And you can claim for compensation if item is lost or damaged by the Post Office. So if the e-bay VP who is now in Brunei knows about the postal service in Brunei, I’m sure he will devote half his talk about the importance of a reliable delivery system.
Anyway, this is one service that can and should be corporatized (Read: the salary of all employees will depend on their ability to send letters/parcels quickly) so hopefully it can become efficient. I hear it’s in the pipeline. So, a big GOOD LUCK wish from me!
Salaam.
Showing posts with label SME. Show all posts
Showing posts with label SME. Show all posts
Wednesday, 12 November 2008
Thursday, 14 August 2008
Land Dilemma
I found an interesting article by
I am no expert in the whole land issue/policy but I do not think the objective of ensuring the local ownership of land has been successfully met, in fact I think it actually has backfired. True, it is a sensitive issue. And for that precise reason, it needs a special attention. The Land Code 1909 really is too outdated, and I do think it deserves some amendments that can accommodate the needs of a new century and most of all the needs of the current economy and its future development without compromising the ‘rightful’ ownership. However for now, I reserve further comments.
Salaam.
Saturday, 26 April 2008
Banks and Investment
The Minister of Finance II said:
However, I cannot help feeling envious towards Malaysia which has the SME Bank or Thailand which also has its own SME Development Bank (which incidently are the subsidiaries of their respective Finance Ministries) to look (solely) after their SMEs' development needs.
Salaam.
"The banking industry, in this country today, sits on over $13 billion in
public deposits, much of which invariably end up being invested offshore and
as these deposits represent a vital capital resource of the country, ideally
it should be deployed for the country's benefit"
I absolutely agree with him! And I also support his encouragement for the financial institutions to:
(here for full news)"...shift towards corporate lending and investment banking and wealth management
and other fee-based activities would be heeded and responded to not just in
letter but also in spirit by all financial institutions in the country."
However, I cannot help feeling envious towards Malaysia which has the SME Bank or Thailand which also has its own SME Development Bank (which incidently are the subsidiaries of their respective Finance Ministries) to look (solely) after their SMEs' development needs.
Salaam.
Friday, 28 March 2008
SME news
I guess I'm not alone in my view:
For the full news, click here. Meanwhile,
And for the above reason, I pray with all my heart that THIS is not another announcement.
Salaam.
"Brunei Darussalam needs to provide special funding to create an
environment where technology-based business ideas can flourish.
Technopreneurs said that it is difficult for them to expand as fast as they
wanted to due to lack of funding. They added that in Brunei if one does not have
the money to do it, then there is little chance of succeeding.
In the words of Tengku Farith Rithauddeen, the Group CEO and Co-Founder
of SKALI, "There should not be any fear of failing if we want to create
innovative products or services."
For the full news, click here. Meanwhile,
"Dato Paduka Timothy Ong also quoted His Royal Highness as saying in the same
interview that diversifying the economy is a lot more than making
announcements". (Click here)
And for the above reason, I pray with all my heart that THIS is not another announcement.
Salaam.
Sunday, 23 March 2008
The Dilemma of SME Part 2
Other issues faced by the SMEs in Brunei are the small market size and the lack of production incentives. With our population of about 380,000 really does not make Brunei an attractive place for any production or businesses. The small market size is further aggravated by cheap competition from import and high local cost.
Of course, somebody would reply that Brunei's SMEs should not limit themselves to the domestic demand and therefore should explore the regional and even the world market. True. But in truth that is easier said than done. Heeks (1998) in his paper (click here) pointed a number of related problems. First, he pointed that Brunei is an island of wealth in the sea of local poverty, at least in Borneo island itself. But it is also true in the context of ASEAN. Brunei is the second wealthiest country after Singapore (measured by the GDP per capita) which is followed by Malaysia and then Thailand. The remaining ASEAN countries are all earning less than US$1000 per capita – they hardly can become our potential markets! Second, where regional markets exist, someone has got there first, producing high quality products at low cost, thus presenting entry barriers to new-comers especially, one that lacks competitiveness.
Now, I’m not trying to be negative but sometimes we have to be realistic. I believe, in order for our local (and weak) SMEs to take their chance in the regional market, let alone the global market, they need assistance. For example, they need to know just what types of products to produce (for e.g. products that have high import growth rates in the global market) given their capabilities. And then of course they will also need (continuous) help in the area of capacity building to increase the products’ competitiveness especially in terms of the quality. Now, my question is, have we got these in place?
OK before we go further into the discussion of providing supports for export-production, let’s first look at the supports for local production. What incentives are we giving to the local producers? You would probably be thinking of the recently reduced corporate tax. Is that enough? The corporate tax, first of all, is not payable by sole proprietorships, which makes up a large chunk of our private sector. And then there is the ‘pioneer status’ scheme, but then again does it apply to a large number of our local SMEs? Correct me if I’m wrong but I think both the corporate tax and the pioneer status scheme are more directed towards the attraction of foreign investors (which I am in support of!). Now, my question again, what then are the incentives we are giving to the local small and medium enterprises? Our SMEs don’t even have complete access to crucial information such as market demand, input costs, availability of sources of production so on and so forth! And so how do we expect our local SMEs to go abroad and compete when they are not even developed domestically.
Now, back to the issue of the small domestic market. How do we then overcome this problem? At the top of my head, we can do this in 2 ways. One, through the natural population increase, which would take AGES! And two, through migration. OK, maybe in our case, not migration per se but we need to find ways to attract foreigners to come and spend in the country. How? One, we need to increase the number of tourists coming to Brunei. The tourism department, from the looks of it, is putting a lot of effort into this. [It’s ashamed really, that the apparent lack of policy co-ordination among other departments somehow weakens the effort (perhaps another post on this one)]. Two, we can attract foreigners who have high purchasing power to come and stay in Brunei. Brunei, being a tax haven has already 'the' appealing factor for anyone to come and live in the country :). However, there is a larger policy implication which is related to another policy taboo – land and property foreign ownership. Now, I’m no expert on this but personally I don’t really see the harm in allowing foreigners, who can make ‘economic contributions’ to purchase properties for the sole purpose of occupation (see for example how Singapore is doing it). Just imagine the spin-off effects of this policy! We can expect a boom in the housing sector and the construction industry, and then of course, the increase in the demand for ALL goods and services which will have the desired direct effect on our local SMEs. Oh I can picture a shift in the aggregate demand for Brunei! (And only then we can seriously talk about providing world-class services be it in education, health etc..)
Oh dear, there’s so much to think of! I do hope I am NOT the only one thinking about this. And while thinking is good, but please for the love of Brunei, DO something about it. I will probably write more on this topic.
Salaam.
Of course, somebody would reply that Brunei's SMEs should not limit themselves to the domestic demand and therefore should explore the regional and even the world market. True. But in truth that is easier said than done. Heeks (1998) in his paper (click here) pointed a number of related problems. First, he pointed that Brunei is an island of wealth in the sea of local poverty, at least in Borneo island itself. But it is also true in the context of ASEAN. Brunei is the second wealthiest country after Singapore (measured by the GDP per capita) which is followed by Malaysia and then Thailand. The remaining ASEAN countries are all earning less than US$1000 per capita – they hardly can become our potential markets! Second, where regional markets exist, someone has got there first, producing high quality products at low cost, thus presenting entry barriers to new-comers especially, one that lacks competitiveness.
Now, I’m not trying to be negative but sometimes we have to be realistic. I believe, in order for our local (and weak) SMEs to take their chance in the regional market, let alone the global market, they need assistance. For example, they need to know just what types of products to produce (for e.g. products that have high import growth rates in the global market) given their capabilities. And then of course they will also need (continuous) help in the area of capacity building to increase the products’ competitiveness especially in terms of the quality. Now, my question is, have we got these in place?
OK before we go further into the discussion of providing supports for export-production, let’s first look at the supports for local production. What incentives are we giving to the local producers? You would probably be thinking of the recently reduced corporate tax. Is that enough? The corporate tax, first of all, is not payable by sole proprietorships, which makes up a large chunk of our private sector. And then there is the ‘pioneer status’ scheme, but then again does it apply to a large number of our local SMEs? Correct me if I’m wrong but I think both the corporate tax and the pioneer status scheme are more directed towards the attraction of foreign investors (which I am in support of!). Now, my question again, what then are the incentives we are giving to the local small and medium enterprises? Our SMEs don’t even have complete access to crucial information such as market demand, input costs, availability of sources of production so on and so forth! And so how do we expect our local SMEs to go abroad and compete when they are not even developed domestically.
Now, back to the issue of the small domestic market. How do we then overcome this problem? At the top of my head, we can do this in 2 ways. One, through the natural population increase, which would take AGES! And two, through migration. OK, maybe in our case, not migration per se but we need to find ways to attract foreigners to come and spend in the country. How? One, we need to increase the number of tourists coming to Brunei. The tourism department, from the looks of it, is putting a lot of effort into this. [It’s ashamed really, that the apparent lack of policy co-ordination among other departments somehow weakens the effort (perhaps another post on this one)]. Two, we can attract foreigners who have high purchasing power to come and stay in Brunei. Brunei, being a tax haven has already 'the' appealing factor for anyone to come and live in the country :). However, there is a larger policy implication which is related to another policy taboo – land and property foreign ownership. Now, I’m no expert on this but personally I don’t really see the harm in allowing foreigners, who can make ‘economic contributions’ to purchase properties for the sole purpose of occupation (see for example how Singapore is doing it). Just imagine the spin-off effects of this policy! We can expect a boom in the housing sector and the construction industry, and then of course, the increase in the demand for ALL goods and services which will have the desired direct effect on our local SMEs. Oh I can picture a shift in the aggregate demand for Brunei! (And only then we can seriously talk about providing world-class services be it in education, health etc..)
Oh dear, there’s so much to think of! I do hope I am NOT the only one thinking about this. And while thinking is good, but please for the love of Brunei, DO something about it. I will probably write more on this topic.
Salaam.
Wednesday, 19 March 2008
New SME Financing
When I read today's news (see here and here) I thought, oohh that was fast! (i.e. the response to my previous post) haha.
It was indeed a welcoming development made by the Standard Chartered Bank to offer a collateral-free Business Installment Loan. I don't know what the interest rate is, but I suspect it would probably be as high as the risk involved. SCB is, after all a commercial bank. The detail of the financing scheme can be found here.
However, the scheme is not for start-ups. It is meant for businesses which have been up and running for at least 3 years. Therefore, I hope our local businesses will only participate when it is absolutely necessary.
The issue of start-up financing, thus still remains.
Salaam.
It was indeed a welcoming development made by the Standard Chartered Bank to offer a collateral-free Business Installment Loan. I don't know what the interest rate is, but I suspect it would probably be as high as the risk involved. SCB is, after all a commercial bank. The detail of the financing scheme can be found here.
However, the scheme is not for start-ups. It is meant for businesses which have been up and running for at least 3 years. Therefore, I hope our local businesses will only participate when it is absolutely necessary.
The issue of start-up financing, thus still remains.
Salaam.
Friday, 7 March 2008
Leg Co: ..On Unemployment
I don't know whether to laugh or to cry when I read the reports (in the newspapers here and here and here) of the Leg Co Session today. It was quite disappointing really because there was nothing new. One minister asked the private sector to hire the locals, while the other asked the locals to work in the private sector. I have no problem with both suggestions. But I fail to understand why no minister was addressing the root of the problem, which to me is the remuneration gap in the public and the private sector.
The gap is huge! To know someone in the public sector, who has the same exact qualification with the same skill, is paid triple the amount one is getting in a private sector is really demotivating to anyone. I don't know about you but seriously somebody has to address this issue. As I said in my previous post it is not enough (and equally unfair) to ask the private sector raising their pay rate to the locals due to several reasons. First, our private sector consists largely of SMEs. Second, our SMEs are weak as highlighted by the Minister of the MIPR. And third, the productivity and the commitment of our locals are not exactly commendable.
Now, in my humble opinion it is inevitable and imperative for the government to intervene. Either reduce the remuneration scale in the public sector and/or prop up the remuneration in the private sector. My preference goes to the latter as I believe it would have a larger multiplier effect to the economy. Perhaps take this idea as some sort of 'employment' benefit as opposed to the 'unemployment' benefit. If you are thinking, more government spending and where can we get the fund to do this? Now, I think there is even a stronger need for the government to review the subsidy (especially the fuel subsidy :) Plus, I also think that the government would actually save by spending only some fraction supporting locals who work in the private sector as opposed to employing these locals in the public sector. And of course the direct effect it has on the private sector itself (as compared to the reduction of the corporate tax! No, I'm not going to make any comment on this one) It's a Win, Win situation, No?
With regards to the mind-set problem and the attitude of our local workers, I think the issue is not exclusive to the private sector. I'm sorry..but look at out public sector's employees! I honestly wonder how can you expect the locals to be in their best behaviour in the private sector which pays considerably less when those in the public sector are having the time of their lives and being paid more. And that is why I also think it is equally imperative for the public sector to practice a more realistic productivity-linked wage system.
Oh Well, I'm just in my own world and who am I to say. I don't even know why I'm racking my brain for this.
Salaam
The gap is huge! To know someone in the public sector, who has the same exact qualification with the same skill, is paid triple the amount one is getting in a private sector is really demotivating to anyone. I don't know about you but seriously somebody has to address this issue. As I said in my previous post it is not enough (and equally unfair) to ask the private sector raising their pay rate to the locals due to several reasons. First, our private sector consists largely of SMEs. Second, our SMEs are weak as highlighted by the Minister of the MIPR. And third, the productivity and the commitment of our locals are not exactly commendable.
Now, in my humble opinion it is inevitable and imperative for the government to intervene. Either reduce the remuneration scale in the public sector and/or prop up the remuneration in the private sector. My preference goes to the latter as I believe it would have a larger multiplier effect to the economy. Perhaps take this idea as some sort of 'employment' benefit as opposed to the 'unemployment' benefit. If you are thinking, more government spending and where can we get the fund to do this? Now, I think there is even a stronger need for the government to review the subsidy (especially the fuel subsidy :) Plus, I also think that the government would actually save by spending only some fraction supporting locals who work in the private sector as opposed to employing these locals in the public sector. And of course the direct effect it has on the private sector itself (as compared to the reduction of the corporate tax! No, I'm not going to make any comment on this one) It's a Win, Win situation, No?
With regards to the mind-set problem and the attitude of our local workers, I think the issue is not exclusive to the private sector. I'm sorry..but look at out public sector's employees! I honestly wonder how can you expect the locals to be in their best behaviour in the private sector which pays considerably less when those in the public sector are having the time of their lives and being paid more. And that is why I also think it is equally imperative for the public sector to practice a more realistic productivity-linked wage system.
Oh Well, I'm just in my own world and who am I to say. I don't even know why I'm racking my brain for this.
Salaam
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